The Pen vs the Paintbrush
by animechickluvsmcr
Summary: Sasuke hates Art. Naruto hates Literature. Will these two will be able to overcome their differences too have....something more? Their friends will make sure of that. Rated T for later chapters. Rating may go up.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** So here's the fic I was telling you about before. I thought of this one while I was trying to fall in a hot room with **no **air-conditioning, got up, saved the title in my phone so I wouldn't forget, and had my mother complain about me using my cell-phone late when _she's _the one who is (a) on the computer till 10:50 and later and (b) tries to talk to me when I'm trying to fall asleep. But enough ranting about my sleeping problems. Onward!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. If I **did **NaruSasu/SasuNaru would rule the world.

**The Pen May be Mightier than the Sword, but what about the Paintbrush?**

Uchiha Sasuke, aspiring author, hurried to meeting with an publisher. He was already gonna be at least five minutes late and was hurrying to try and minimalize the amount of time he would be late to be late by. Without any regard for the safety (of of the people who might hit him), he had sprinted across five lanes of traffic and was about to attempt his 6th. He counted to 5, and bolted. One Ford S.U.V. swerved to avoid hitting the second son of the head of Uchiha Corporations, then a Chevy, then a Toyota. Finally Sasuke made it to the other side, with minimal damage to the people who were avoiding hitting him. He stopped for a moment to straighten up his clothes and catch his breath. As he was doing this Sasuke noticed the art studio across the street. Sasuke sneered as he looked at what he though of as a "place for people who's only talent is making pretty pictures". Sasuke has some prejudice issues. After suitably filling his hate meter, Sasuke stepped into the building to meet with the publisher. He was in for a shock.

Uzumaki Naruto had stretched out the amount of time he could stay in the art studio till he was in danger of being late. Finally, he brought himself to make the walk across the street to the hell-on-earth, the favourite torture pit of Lucifer, the dance-hall of demons, the publishing building across the street! As you can guess, Naruto didn't like books very much. He found them to easily ready to divulge their secrets, and only one way to be expressed while art could be expressed in many forms. He sighed as he made the long journey. _If I didn't need the money so bad I wouldn't have taken this job, _he thought. Naruto had accepted a job as an illustrator for a new author's first book. He thought it was going to be torture. He didn't know the half of it yet.

Sasuke sat in the publisher's office, ever so often glaring at the clock. _Where is he?! _Sasuke thought angrily. He's thought he'd late but his watch had just been fast. Now though his publisher was 5 minutes late and Sasuke was getting annoyed. It said something for Sasuke that he was getting angry at the person who could possibly make or break his future career as a writer. It also said something for his influential status of what he was imagining for his publisher if he didn't show up in the next 30 seconds. _Internment camp in Colombia..... Enslavement camp in the Arabia....T- Oh there he is _Sasuke thought as his publisher, Kakashi, walked in.

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized, "I got lost on the roads of life. And Sasuke promptly began re-imagining horrible, evil, indescribable things happening to his editor.

"No it was no bother at all," Sasuke lied through his teeth.

"Well what I've read from the chapters that you've written so far of your book, frankly I think it could do very well on the bestsellers list."

_This is it_ Sasuke though, rapidly changing gears in his thinking process _THIS IS I-_

"Ah here you are," Kakashi said, interrupting Sasuke's thoughts. "You're late"

"It's not my fault," a female voice answered, "He took too long to come from behind Sasuke. Sasuke turned around to see a pink-haired, green-eyed woman holding onto the door frame. Sasuke paid little attention to her though, he almost immediately focused on the main standing behind her. He was about Sasuke's height, with tan skin, blond, spiky hair. And had whisker-like marks on his cheeks _But the most be- striking thing about him is his eyes_ thought Sasuke. He was unable to look away from those deep cerulean pools.

"Well at least you came," Kakashi said, once again interrupting Sasuke from his thought, and Sasuke one again began plotting his destruction.

"Sasuke meet Haruno Sakura . She's now your editor." Kakashi continued, oblivious to the waves of hatred radiating out of Sasuke.

"Konnichiwa, Uchiha-kun," Sakura said giving a respectful bow. _But if she's my editor _though Sasuke _then what's he- oh no, OH NO._

"And this is your illustrator, Uzumaki Naruto," Kakashi finished.

_It's official _thought Sasuke _He's going on the next boat to the Colombian rain forest._

**End A/N: **Yeah, sorry it took so long. I finished both articles and a little extra, but that also meant that I worked very little on this. I'll try to get the next one up as soon assoon as possible but it'll be kinda hard since I gave up (or at least am trying to) chocolate, Le gasp!, and using the computer after school for Lent. I would've given up meat, but then I would have nothing to eat at all. I've got two one-shots and Ash's little problem (the soon-to-be-named thing on my profile, friend gave me name) and another chapter of The Incredibly Suckish thing called a High School Relationship to post and after that I'll try to work on this. Good thing Ash's Little Problem- Chapter 1 is almost done. Also sorry it's so short but procrastinating makes it harder for me to come up with things and it would suck if I tried to force. I'll try to make the next one longer. Also I'm gonna buy a bunch of energy drinks like Monster and Red Bull and Rockstar and Battery am gonna give them to my incredibly hyper friend (different one) so I can mail them to Bob Bryar and mail an extremely ranty letter with it just cuz I can. So if you see an extremely hyper person running around who gives crushing hugs and with scissors with which she is tearing the fabric of the universe, you know who to blame.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Well it is 11:20 P.M. And I have learned something. I really need better sleeping habits. I'll do my best with this one guys. Thanks for being patient *ignores people destroying things in their impatience.*

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto. My deal fell through. I will get you Julio Lopez-Martinez-Ramirez!

Naruto was depressed. This did not happen often. Naruto was usually the happiest little ball of sunshine and hyper-cheerfulness. This of course meant that very often his friends had the urge to pick up a really big stick and beat them with it, sometimes which they did. But on the rare occasions Naruto had gotten depressed, it meant that something, or in this case some things, had managed to take a sucker punch right into the cheerfulness of the boy's happiness gland. This day was the mo- second-most depressing day of his life. First he has to go to work as an illustrator because he hasn't been making enough money at the art gallery to afford some things, like his rent, new clothes, food. Then he ended up having to illustrate the biggest jackass in world's book. The guy had wasted a whole 20 minutes arguing with their publisher trying to convince him that his "precious book" didn't need an illustrator, that the words "gave the imagination what it needed to see the images" whatever the hell that meant. After a while he realized arguing with Kakashi-sensei was like trying to pull, by hand, a woolly mammoth out of a swamp, so he just sat their in the chair farthest away from Naruto sulking. And man that boy could sulk. You could actually see anime lines of depression hovering around him. Which was fine with him. He got to sit next to the cute editor anyway. And afterwards she had invited him and another person to this bar, which was awesome because it was the same he and some of his friends frequented, which meant that he could show her off to them. Indiscreetly. Just before they had entered the office he had annoyed Sakura. That girl had one hell of a punch. Even with the memory of Sakura's punch lurking in his mind Naruto was still happy. That was until the memory of who the person Sakura had invited. His writer. Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

Naruto shrugged off his jacket and threw his boots into one of the cubby-hole that Kira-baasama, the bar owner, had placed next to the door "to keep people from messing up my nice clean floor. I mean do these people just coat their shoes in whatever available dirt they can before coming in? I swear..." Naruto usually tuned out at around this point. No-one had ever heard the end of Kira-baasama's rant. It was suspected that she didn't even pay attention. Naruto spotted Sakura and _him _ughh, sitting at the bar talking to Kira-baasama. More accurately would be saying that Sakura was talking to her while Sakura, to put it bluntly, stared. Not the normal kind of staring she got though. The ohmigodsheishot! staring she usually got, which wasn't bad for a woman who was over 50. It was the kind of staring done by the devout when they were looking at statues of their idols. A sort of admiration mixed with worship. The weirdest part was that he was only looking t her eyes. Sure they were kind of unusual and exotic, but that was it. They were just green. _He _should see her when she was wearing her contacts. But even then they weren't much compared to her chest. Man her breasts were like... but he shouldn't think thoughts like that. Who knew whether or not Oro-jiisama was around. He'd heard stories of what he'd done to guys who'd even _stared _too long at Kira-baasama, even his best friend Ero-sennin. And that was just when they were dating. He was supposed to have toned down in his later years but no-one had been brave ,or stupid, enough to find out. He navigated his way over to where Sakura was and his heart sank. The only seat available near to her was between her and him. 'Oh well, the crazy things we do to get a chance with a hot girl,' he thought and pawned his soul. "Hey Kira-baasama," Naruto greeted, "Can a get a beer?"

"Sure sweatheart," she replied and stooped to reach the beers from the fridge underneath the bar.

"How can you call her that Naruto? She's barely older than us!" Sakura chastised.

"Actually honey, my 51st birthday is next month," Kira-baasama replied from under the bar, "May 25th . What kind of beer do you want honey?"

"Surprise me," Naruto answered. "Hey Sakura-san, are you alright?" he asked. The girl looked liked _The Scream._

"You-your 50 years old?" she managed to stutter out, "Your barely look 25!"

"I am blessed," Kira-baasama. "Japanese okay with you honey?"

"Sure," Naruto replied, not taking his eyes off Sakura. It wasn't like he wouldn't've gotten anything else. She always gave him the same thing when he said "Surprise me." He couldn't understand how Sakura could be so surprised at Kira-baasama's age. Sure she looked younger than she was but it wasn't that strange. Tsunade-baasama looked like that too. Orochimaru-jiisama looked kind of in-between and Ero-sennin looked like... Ero-sennin. Not particularly old-looking, not particularly young-looking either. Thinking of which...

"Where are they anyway?" questioned Naruto, taking a swig of his beer.

"They said they'll be here in about 10, 15 minutes so probably in the next two-"

"Who's they?" asked Sakura, momentarily recovering from her shock.

"Hey, got any sake!" called out a familiar voice.

"-or sooner," she finished, "And yes you old hag, and when are you gonna lay off the alcohol? Too much is bad for your liver."

"But great for my skin," Tsunade-baasama retorted, sitting down into a recently vacated seat next to Sakura. People tended to leave the seats near the bar when the Sennin entered. At least the regulars did.

"Great for mine too," Kira-baasama said with a smile and placed a glass in front of her old friend. "And where's Shizune-chan anyway?"

"She's off with _you-know-who_" Tsunade-baasama said in an exaggerated whisper.

"Maybe she and him will get some action," remarked Ero-sennin, taking a swig of his beer, American not Japanese.

"Jiraiya, you pervert," giggled Kira-baasama, swatting him playfully on the arm. Naruto wondered about this. Usually she would just say "Pervert" while going on with whatever she was doing. The last time he had seen her act like this was when they were hooking up Shizune-neechan with her boyfriend. Did that mean that Kira-baasama was going to get him and Sakura together? She did love to play Cupid....While Naruto entertained his unrealistic daydreams the conversation continued around him.

"Does that mean we get Ton-Ton for the night?" Kira-baasama questioned Tsunade-baasama.

"No they have Ton-Ton for the night. I wonder what kind of date you can take a pig on." Tsunade-baasama said.

"We'll find out tomorrow," Kira-baasama replied. "If we're lucky," she added, after a moments thought.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "Honey these are my friends Tsunade," she introduced pointing to the blonde woman.

"Jiraiya," the white-haired man

"And, at his request, my husband Orochimaru," she said, pointing to the pale, black-haired man who had been sitting quietly.

"Thank you," Orochimaru-jiisama said

"Your welcome and oh yes, in the days of our youth people called us the Sennin." She finished, smiling.

"Sennin?" Sakura asked, "That's the name of your bar."

"Oh it's just a nickname. We did some things together and people decided we needed a name. I thought it would be funny if I named my bar after us." Kira-baasama explained.

"But why-" Sakura began.

"But I've wasted your time telling you about an old woman's past, why don't you go over to one of the tables over there and I'll bring you something to eat."

"All right," Naruto agreed, "Come on Sakura-san, Uchiha." Naruto had been thinking. Usually whenever Ero-sennin made a comment on anything Kira-baasama would give him a taste of her right hook which, if she tried, could take his head off. She had acted like this when they had hooked up Shizune with her boyfriend. Did that mean? Could it? They were going to match him up with Sakura-san! He loved Kira-baasama more than ever now. As Sasuke and Sakura walked, and he almost flew, to the table Naruto felt that maybe it hadn't been so bad that he had to take the illustrator job after all.

* * *

"Your sure this will work?" Tsunade asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Why do you doubt me?" Kira questioned, "When I have ever been wrong?"

"If you were you'd probably erase our memories of the incident," Jiraiya replied.

"Probably," she conceded, "And yes I am sure, if I'm not right then all that work will have been for nothing.

* * *

"Good night Naruto-kun," called out his next door neighbour Hinata.

"'Night Hinata-chan," he called back and unlocked his apartment door. He stepped inside and flicked on the light. "This was the best night ever!" he exclaimed to no-one in particular. He lay down on the couch and let the memories of the night flood him.

"_Hey Sakura-san sit next to me!"_

"_All right Naruto-san," she giggled and sat next to him._

"_Hey kids, I hope your hungry!" said Kira-baasama setting plates which already had food on them in front of each of them and placing the meat and fish on the metal grille, under which hot coals burned._

"_I'll leave you to talk now talk now," she said and winked._

'_Yep she is definitely trying to hook up me and Sakura,' he thought 'I love that woman.'_

And he and Sakura had talked for hours while _he _had sat there in silence. _He _didn't even stay long, for which Naruto thanked Kami-sama for. After he finished eating he got up without a word and left the bar, stopping only to say something to Kira-baasama. This left him alone to talk with Sakura-san. And if that wasn't enough, Kami bestowed upon him even more good fortune. Sakura allowed him to walk her home.

"_So Naruto tell me something," Sakura said._

"_What?" he asked._

"_Why do you speak so informally to females, like how you call me__ Sakura-san, but you speak formally to males like how you call Uchiha Sasuke Uchiha."_

"_Oh, that. I watched a lot of American TV when I was little. It stuck." He explained, "Plus I spent too much time with Ero-sennin. Only he's obsessed with women while I just just respect them more than men."_

"_But wouldn't__ that mean you would call me Haruno-san?" she asked._

"_**American**__ TV." He replied._

"_Ah."_

And the best part:

"_Ok Naruto-san, this is my building." Sakura said, stopping in front of a tall, brick building._

"_All right, see you tomorrow Sakura-san!" Naruto replied_

"_Naruto call me Sakura-chan."_

"_All right but only if you promise to call me Naruto-kun"_

"_Done," they said at the same time._

Life just couldn't get any better. He should get off the couch and get ready for bed now but he was suddenly so tired, he'd just lie there for a while, then he's get up. He'd just close his eyes for a little while, he wouldn't fall aslee…

* * *

**A/N: **Liked it? I didn't finish it the same night, no. I finished this about a month after. I need to stop procrastinating. But really what have you given me to inspire the muse. I looke for new NaruSasu fanfiction and please tell me this was just my computer because My fanfic "Last Kiss", which I posted a month ago, was number 2!!!! Number wasn't published recently published either. So I want all of you to go out and write. And don't tell me that you have exams cuz I know you Americans are on vacation while I have exams and I'm still writing. So go make me proud!!! Oh yeah I'm gonna be writing a new summer series. And because I still kinda like you people I'm gonna give you an extra.

**-W-i-t-h-K-i-r-a-a-n-d-O-r-o-c-h-i-m-a-r-u-**

"Are you sure It's gonna work?" Orochimaru questioned his wife as she changed.

"Yes why does everyone keep asking that?" she moaned.

"It's just that…. if it doesn't work one work then one of them is going to get hurt." he said.

"I know but we have to give them a chance." she replied, "A chance they were robbed of. Sometimes you have to take chances. We did."

"I remember."

"Good, now we just have to hope that it works out for them, like it did for us. We both know sometimes all you can do is hope."


End file.
